Brandon got the announcers talking about our team's jerseys. Maybe next year we will have numbers in invisible ink on white jerseys and the only way to see the numbers is with special glasses sold by the athletic department.

"[The University of Michigan] was, in short, the testing ground for all my prejudices, my beliefs and my ignorance, and it helped to lay out the boundaries of my life."--Arthur Miller

...and the sunshine washed out EVERYTHING on the Michigan uniform on TV...they looked like highlighter yellow blurs, and not in a good way. Maybe it was better in person, but I can't imagine being able to deduce a player's numbers if you were anything beyond 10 rows from the field.

Look at all the other games that were on yesterday...only NIU wore UNI4MZ (and they probably figured they earned the gimmick since it was their first BCS game). UGA, Nebraska, Wiscy, Stanford, Florida State...even South Carolina (believe it or not, they ALWAYS dress like that). Classic, boring, easily identifiable, nothing distracting from the play on the field. Seemed to work for them...can't imagine why a program with over 130 years of gridirion history feels so insecure about its place in the game to the point where it feels the need to "Oregon-ize" itself in a "look at ME" attempt to get a little more attention.

ESPECIALLY in a second-tier game likethe Outback Bowl. I mean, if you HAVE to design a "special" outfit for a game, couldn't you at least make sure it's a bigger game? UTL? Sure, okay. BCS-level game like the Sugar Bowl? I could see it. BCS championship game? If you MUST. But an early start on New Year's Day against anothr team that didn't even compete for their conference championship (like us)? Seems like a reach to me. But what do I know? I was born when Bo still coached at Miami (NTM).

with UTL, and the Cowboy Classic usage. Sugar Bowl was OK as well. If Brandon ever does uniformz for the Rose Bowl, I will feel compelled to write and protest.

I agree however that Adidas sucks at alternate uniformz design.

Apparently their cleats suck too (or Big Jon Falk forgot to bring the grass cleats). I noticed a lot more cleat problems this year over prior seasons. I know Adidas changed to non-standard triangular studs, and it seems like there are a lot of lost shoe issues, even beyond Denard. I wonder if they have shifted too far in the direction of weigh reduction over traction, etc.

No. People just like to stomp their feet and piss and moan about nothing. It's a fact....changes are going to happen over time. DEAL WITH IT. The players like special uniforms to wear. The recruits like it. It makes the university money. Get over it people.

Thought the team played well about 98% of the time. Unfortunately the lapses we did have resulted in td's.

Alternate uniforms for the Outback Bowl was beyond stupid. Not that I liked the previous alternate ones but who the hell makes a new uniform for a mediocre bowl game? I also had to roll my eyes when these things were first revealed and Dave Brandon said that we haven't had new alternates since the Bama game, like he wants credit for waiting 11 games before making the team wear new ugly. I can only imagine what he's going to make for next season's night game against ND.

My eyes were truly opened at the Air Force game back in September when I saw how many fans were wearing UTL jerseys. People must be buying these ugly ass things so I don't see it stopping any time soon.

"wolverinehistorian, for someone so dedicated and seemingly level headed, his grudges are monumental." ~ triangle_M

There are also millions of Americans who've gotten hilariously stupid and horribly-executed tattoos. David Brandon knows this, and understands that he can sell anything to a certain demographic. He made his fortune in junk mail and cheap pizza, and we shouldn't be surprised at the constant re-inventing of the packaging.

I think that big games are actually when it's most important to use your iconic, traditional jerseys, with the bigger stage and all. A mediocre bowl game seems like the perfect situation to break out an alternate jersey, because it's a unique situation but still not one many people care all that much about. I'd much rather let Brandon have his fun with the Outback/Capital One/etc Bowl than with the Rose Bowl or a big home game.

They looked ok, but I will go on record, for the first time ever, complaining about these jerseys, and REALLY hating them.

The yellow number on white jersey scheme made the numbers almost completely invisible, especially when the sun hit the jersey - and I couldn't tell who was who the entire game. This greatly effected my viewing experience.

Understanding that I have the flu and watched the game under the influence of Nyquil, there was a point where Gallon caught a pass and I thought it was Dileo. So yeah, identifying players was a real problem.

If we never have a jersey with unreadable numbers again the freakout will be worth it. Aside from that they were fine I guess. I just dont see any need to change them ever. Is the amount of money made from alternate jersey sales significant? I would guess not really.

Except for the other thing. That hurts the most. But the lack of respect hurts the second most.

I thought that too, but at least when Nike does a special jersey it's usually a reasonably well thought-out, coherent uniform that is somehow relevant to the university, either by recalling a past uniform or some feature of the school. They don't just say "LOL here's a random shoulder yoke and some unreadable numbers, let's call it a day."

The worst feature of the jerseys was the pseudo-luminescent tropical verison of maize numbers on the backs. They made it impossible to see the players' numbers from the stands without looking at the TV screens. Unfortunately, I had no such problem seeing number "7" for SC.

Tennessee is also an Adidas school, and the relatively inoffensive pumpkin-shade of orange they normally wear has been turned up to a fluorescent level so bright that it makes the generally obnoxious electric orange of Clemson seem reasonable by comparison.

I guess the one thing to be thankful for is that Michigan isn't affiliated with Under Armour, but add me to the "Bring Back Nike" camp.

Under Armour uglified Maryland, but they did a pretty great job with Northwestern in my opinion. Northwestern's uniform changes are light years better than the clip-art piles of crap that Adidas has given Michigan this year.

First and foremost, I think we can all agree that Adidas has no business doing these types of jerseys, they seem to miss the mark each and every time they put one out. Adidas should fire whoever is running that department!

I understand everyone's iconic/tradition-laced rants, but times are a changin'. I believe Michigan has taken the right approach with having special jerseys for big games. Now, with that said, their uniform changes have been horrible...with last night's being probably the best to date. Even at that, if we are going to make bold changes, why not wear navy pants last night? I'd like to see more of an approach to the uniform changes like Navy has taken. Seems like everytime they do a special uniform it is off the charts.

In conclusion, Adidas needs to step up their game or it's time to bring Nike back!

The uniforms were abominable. I was so pissed off that I actually turned off the game before halftime. Can you imagine that? A fan turning off his own team because they look so fucking dreadful and utterly un-Michiganlike?

I agree with your breakdown of the uniforms, but don't make the players and coaches (those who have NO input to the uniforms) pay the price for your anger towards Brandon. You missed a great second half of football.

but I share your hatred of the devolution of Michigan football into how can we make a little bit more money, I'm contemplating giving up my season tickets because it's just so expensive and I feel more and more like every time I watch it's about how I can be made to watch more commercials and spend more money.

At first I didn't have a problem with changing the away uniforms because there wasn't anything really iconic about them aside from the helmets but how can you trust a designer that doesn't even take into account that it is impossible to see maize on white. It is like they just tried to find something different and then went with it, instead of testing it out AT ALL. I liked these much more:

I am glad that people protested the jerseys. As others have said, you couldn't read the numbers. I also simply don't want Michigan to use alternate jerseys ever, so I want every such jersey to be protested just on principle...That said, I certainly wasn't focused much on the jerseys during the game.